I read three books during the month of April: The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid, One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, and What Once was Mine: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell. While I loved all three, I still have a lot to say about them!
The Wolf and The Woodsman
By Ava Reid
The Wolf and the Woodsman is Ava Reid’s debut novel and something I didn’t expect. Not often do I read an author’s debut novel; most don’t get popular enough for me to hear about them and find them. I picked this up during a Barnes and Noble sale and it’s safe to say that I started this book with no prior knowledge and was pleasantly surprised.
After some research on the book after reading it, I found that it is a fantasy novel that was inspired from the history of medieval Hungary, which that fact alone would have made me want to read this novel anyway (being second generation from a Hungarian Immigrant).Â
The novel itself is based very much on religion, one thing that I thought about a lot throughout the book is the reliance religion has on stories. I think learning about the stories of the loosely guarded fictional religions (based on real ones) was one of the most interesting parts of the book. The three main religions in the book and their similar stories fascinated me. In my mind, the storytelling within the storytelling was almost more interesting than the character development (which was still very good).
The characters themselves were interesting and compelling. The main character, Évike, had her past and present very well intertwined with the overall theme and feel of the book. The love story present in the book was well written, but not close to my favorite parts of the novel. The first hundred pages were hard for me to read; there are a lot of locations and names that only exist in novels that I had a hard time remembering. After the first hundred pages, the novel felt a lot easier to sink into, but if I had been less dedicated to finishing this book, I probably would have not continued reading it. This is a common feeling that I have with fantasy books where there are so many locations to remember; other fans of the genre may not have this feeling about the book.
Overall, I would recommend this novel to fans of fantasy books that have action. The action scenes in the book didn’t feel overwhelming to me. One note that I would like to add as a slight warning is there is at times some sexual content in the book (although this book in never really that graphic). Good fantasy novel for adult fantasy lovers.Â
One Of Us Is Lying
By Karen M. McManus
I bought this book after seeing it again and again online, it was one that I was uncertain if I would even like it, but I went forward with expectations that were met in ways that I didn’t expect. I was expecting a story of unreliable narrators and for one of them to really be lying, but I was given a well rounded story that was in first person and that first person POV switched constantly.
As with most mystery stories that I read, I started thinking deeper about what I was reading in an attempt to guess the ending. I had many theories that it was Browyn because she wasn’t on the back of the book jacket and the idea of a good girl turned absolutely evil for stupid reasons seemed like a trap a book like this could fall into. That was my main theory for a while and I am happy that I was (spoiler) wrong in every way possible. A few other ideas sparked up and there was one that I decided was too crazy and then I ended up being right. I am not disappointed that I guessed it because the story made me second-guess myself.Â
One aspect of this story that I wasnt a fan of was the constant switching of point of views. I think the story was interesting enough for me to push through that confusion and that’s why it didn’t ruin the experience. I loved the love story that was sprinkled in through every page and I loved how there were several twists. Each character seemed pretty well developed, and overall I enjoyed it.Â
One complaint that I have with most high school staged stories is that it often seemed like there are twenty kids that go to school there and that’s it, this book did fall into that, but I totally forgave it because of the character development that the handful of named characters there were able to have.
Overall I would recommend this book to people interested in mystery novels or people who are looking into mystery who don’t have much experience with the genre. I think this book could act like a good introduction to the genre for people unfamiliar while being interesting to those who already love the genre.Â
What Once Was Mine: A Twisted Tale
By Liz Braswell
As a child, I loved Disney movies. Cinderella was my favorite and I loved the idea of a happily ever after. I was nine years old when Tangled came out, but I loved it then and I still absolutely love the movie. This book is a twisted version of the Tangled story. Disney has put out several “twisted” versions of their stories in the past several years, but What Once Was Mine is the first that I have read.Â
The book has all of your favorite characters: Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Mother Gothel, Maximus, and Rapunzel’s favorite chameleon. But one of the most interesting parts of the books are the new characters: the ones of light and the ones of pure darkness.Â
The story fixes some of the smaller errors that the movie didn’t cover like how did Rapunzel never know about the door to the tower when at a young age there is no way her hair would have reached the ground below. The story at its core remains the same, but with fun and dark twists, like instead of her power being created from the Sundrop flower, it’s instead the Moondrop and her powers are different and more twisted.Â
I would like to note the little side story throughout the book, how it’s a modern teenage boy creating this story for his sister who is sick with cancer. It was a detail I wasn’t expecting, but it was interesting to say the very least. It’s an additional detail that with or without would have not changed how I saw the story.
I liked the book; it was different from things I have read in the past and I love Tangled, so I appreciated seeing the story in a new light. It is light-hearted enough for younger readers and dark enough for teenagers and adults alike.Â
Overall, I liked the book and I could see myself recommending this book in the future, it’s good, and I could see myself eventually reading it again for fun.Â
Thanks for reading and I hope that I may have inspired you to pick up one of these great books that I read in the month of April!